Career Highlights: Six-time individual national champion (one cross country, two indoor track & field, three outdoor track & field); 13-time All-American (three cross country, 10 track & field); Five-time CCIW champion in cross country and track & field; 16-time All-CCIW; Contributed to three cross country team national championships and two indoor track & field team national championships; 2019 USTFCCCA Co-Outstanding Track Performer at Indoor Championships; 2019 USTFCCCA Division III Indoor Track Athlete of the Year; 2018 Indoor Division III Scholar Athlete of the Year; Set Division III and North Central records in outdoor 5,000-meter run; CSC Academic All-America First Team; Three-time USTFCCCA All-AcademicÂ
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Dhruvil Patel ’19 played a pivotal role in restoring North Central College to the pinnacle of Division III cross country and track & field. After experiencing a fifth-place team finish at the 2015 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships as a freshman, Patel quickly emerged as one of the nation’s elite distance runners. As a sophomore, he earned his first All-America honor with an 18th-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships while helping the Cardinals capture the team title with a meet record for largest margin of victory (144 points). That winter, as North Central hosted the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, Patel made his track nationals debut, finishing second in the 5,000-meter run and seventh in the 3,000m, helping the Cardinals to their first indoor title in four seasons. He also qualified for the outdoor national meet in the 5,000m, where he finished 10th. Patel’s junior season established him among the greatest distance runners in program history. He finished third at the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships as North Central captured a second consecutive national title with a 57-point team performance. During the indoor season, Patel won every race he competed in leading up to the NCAA Championships before claiming his first national title on the track in the 5,000m and placing fourth in the 3,000m. Outdoors, he completed the 5,000m-10,000m double at the national meet, winning the 10,000m title and placing fourth in the 5,000m as North Central finished runner-up at both the indoor and outdoor championships. In the fall of his senior year, Patel became North Central’s eighth individual cross country national champion—and the program’s first in 18 years—leading the Cardinals to their second three-peat in school history. During the indoor track season, he ran 14:00.07 in the 5,000m, then the third-fastest time in Division III history, before contributing 18 points to the Cardinals’ 55-point total for the 2019 indoor team title. With his second 5,000m national title and a runner-up finish in the 3,000m, he was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Co-Outstanding Track Performer of the Indoor Championships and the USTFCCCA Division III Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. The outdoor season proved even more successful as Patel broke the Division III 5,000m record with a time of 13:51.40 at Stanford’s Cardinal Classic, eclipsing a 42-year-old record, while his 10,000m personal best of 28:50.87 ranked among the fastest in Division III history. Patel completed his four years as a Cardinal by sweeping the 5,000m and 10,000m national titles at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships.Â
